From: mr happy (ajbehan@tcd.ie)
Date: Thu 21 Nov 1996 - 19:04:26 EET
Is the 1st Age Ralian god Humath cognate with the Dragon Pass Umath? Both are
violent war-like deities and they have remarkably similar names. IMO they are.
This would explain why Umath mysteriously retires in mythology.
Humakt is Humath-Arkat. It follows that a portion of the mythology about
Humath was subsumed into that of Humakt. If Humath and Umath are cognate
then presumably they have the same cosmological role: Primal Air violently
dividing Earth and Sky. However, the references to Swords of
Humath in "Broken Council" suggest that he had an active role in later
mythology as well.
The World Council missionaries interpreted Humath as being a heretofore
unknown brother of Orlanth (who had already assumed Umath's role as King
Storm.) Acknowledging him as Umath, Orlanth's father, would have made
their own god look like an upstart and was therefore intolerable.
Humath-Arkat incorporated Humath/Umath's warlike attributes (now
tempered with honour) but not his cosmological role. The continued
prosperity of Humakt and the decline of Humath and Umath suggests that he
fulfilled this specialized warrior role rather better than his
predeccesors whose political importance was also decimated by the
ascendancy of Orlanth.
It's not clear if the Ralians had their own LBQ before they came into contact
with missionaries from Dragon Pass. If they did then the obvious candidate for
leader is Humath, standing in for Humakt and Orlanth. IMHO he killed his
father, the Sky so that he could sleep with his mother, the Earth.
Chaos fell through the hole where the Sky should be. The trials by which
Storm must prove himself to Sky take on a different tone when there is
a direct father-son relationship. Especially with Arachne Solara looking on,
and of course Arachne Solara=Glorantha=Ga=(H)umath's mother.
On a seperate issue, I'm puzzled by the Carmanian LBQ. The orthodoxy
seems to that Humakt leads the LBQ, which is a nice idea. After all the
Carmanians are a fairly grim bunch. However who was the murderer? Orlanth
or Humakt? Also who was the Emperor? IdoVan, Yelm or none of the above.
Even if Hero War era Carmanians say Yelm I doubt very much that it was
him in the Bad Old Days.
Any ideas.
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